Integrated Strategies

Integrated Strategies

Themes

Guide

Trivia

Integrated Strategies (I.S.; not to be confused with Il Siracusano) is a roguelike game mode in Arknights. It is accessible once 3-8 is cleared.

Overview

The player must complete one "adventure" or "run" by clearing various operations and events divided through branching paths with different possibilities, hence the player must be ready for literally any situation although this is not always the case due to the intrinsic nature of the mode.

• Various items, referred to as "Collectibles", can be obtained to help the player and their team by providing various advantages, although some have disadvantages.
• The player does not have access to all of their Operators. Instead, Operators must be recruited by using Rec. Vouchers and HR Dispatch Letters at a cost of Hope which increases as the Operator's rarity increases; see below for further information. As both Hope and Rec. Vouchers/HR Dispatch Letters are scarce resources, this means one must carefully consider which Operators to add into their I.S. roster.
• A leveling system that is unique to each run (see below).
• Life Points also act as the player's "lives" and a resource; if one's LP reaches zero, the run ends in failure, although certain Collectibles can prevent this under specific circumstances.

The player may pause the run by returning to the main I.S. menu and resume it anytime (the run's time still counts while it is being paused), and abandon the run from the main I.S. menu when it is paused or quitting out of an I.S. operation; in both cases (the former since Phantom & Crimson Solitaire), the run will end in failure.

Take caution that since an operation will be considered to end in a mission failure when the player is disconnected or the game is forcefully shut down while in the middle of one, an I.S. run will end in failure when it is resumed if the aforementioned happens in the middle of an I.S. operation!

If the run is abandoned during its starting up sequence (see below), the player must wait for one minute before they can start another run.

All I.S. themes from Crimson Solitaire are always available and can be accessed from the Terminal. This also extends to the respective theme's Path to Glory medals, which has no time constraints in obtaining them!

Operators

Recruitment and promotion

“	Select Operators that fit your squad to make combat easier.	”
	—Loading screen tip in Integrated Strategies

Operators are recruited through Rec. Vouchers and HR Dispatch Letters, which gives the player an opportunity to pick one Operator to be added into their I.S. roster or promoting Operators already added to the roster. Only Operators in the player's roster and I.S.-exclusive Operators (see below) that can be recruited through regular Rec. Vouchers; Operators not present in the player's roster may be available as Temporary Recruitment ones (explained below).

“	Training more Operators and developing the possibilities between them can grant you a greater advantage during combat.	”
	—Loading screen tip in Integrated Strategies

Keep in mind that Operators' level, Potential, skill upgrade/Mastery training, and Modules in I.S. will match with that in the player's own roster (e.g. if the player have SilverAsh at Elite 1 Level 60, their SilverAsh in I.S. will be at the same level and unable to use Truesilver Slash even when promoted; conversely, if the player have Exusiai at Elite 2 Level 50 and with the MAR-X Module unlocked, their Exusiai in I.S. will be at Elite 1 Level 80 when recruited and will reach the same level, and can use Overloading Mode, and have her Module activated once promoted); newly recruited Operators will be in at most Elite 1 maximum level with the skill level of 7 when recruited, and 4★ or above Elite 2 Operators will reach their highest level (and skill Mastery training, if one had done so) when promoted. Therefore, don't neglect on building non-core Operators (especially low-rarity ones) because they can (and will) be useful in a pinch during I.S. runs!

As mentioned before, recruiting and promoting Operators cost Hope; initially the player starts with 6 and can gain more throughout the run, with the costs being:

Rarity	Recruit	Promote
6★	6	3
5★	3	2
4★	2	1
3★ and below	Free	N/A

Rarity	Recruit	Promote
6★	6	3
5★	2	1
4★	Free
3★ and below	Free	N/A

Certain Collectibles and items can be used to promote Operators without spending Hope.

“	Operators recruited via "Temporary Recruitment" will not consume Hope. Do not miss the opportunity.	”
	—Loading screen tip in Integrated Strategies

Temporary Recruitment Operators may be available on occassion when using Rec. Vouchers/HR Dispatch Letters, which costs no Hope to recruit (but still costs Hope to be promoted), have maxed out stats (which extends to Potential, skill upgrades/Mastery training, and Modules), and could be those that are not in the player's roster; Temp. Recruitment Operators in the player's roster, however, will always wear their default outfit.

Support Unit

“	During your initial recruitment, you can recruit your friends' Operators via Support Recruitment.	”
	—Loading screen tip in Integrated Strategies

Since Crimson Solitaire, the player can pick one Support Unit to help them throughout the run, but this must be done during the run's startup and the Support Unit cannot be changed for the remainder of the run.

The Support Unit still have to be recruited as with the player's own Operators before they can be used, and their stats will match with when the player uses them (e.g. if the owner raises the Support Unit during the run, their stats will only be updated after the run).

Exclusive

There are ten Operators exclusive to I.S..

Elite
Reserve

• The Elite Operators only have one skill but make up for this by having higher attributes than regular 5★ Operators.
  • Tulip is added in Mizuki & Caerula Arbor.
• The Reserve Operators have no skills and lower attributes than other regular 3★ Operators but can be recruited multiple times, allowing more than one of them to be deployed at once.
  • Reserve Operator - Defender is added in Caerula Arbor.

All I.S.-exclusive Operators are always available as Temporary Recruitment ones, but their Potential cannot be improved in any way. They also have no base skills since they are never available outside I.S..

Floors and nodes

“	Carefully plan out your route. The decisions you make at each step along the way are very important.	”
	—Loading screen tip in Integrated Strategies

An Integrated Strategies run is split into various nodes divided into six floors with the sixth can only be entered after certain conditions are fulfilled. The first five floors have a node which will always appear at the end, while the nodes in 6F are always in a fixed order.

In addition to the standard six floors, a secret floor is introduced in Caerula Arbor, which can only be entered through a specific event. Clearing the secret floor takes the player back to the floor where they entered it and proceed into the node succeeding the event.

Since Caerula Arbor, there may be nodes connected vertically by a dashed line, which can be entered from either node (and changes the path as well) at the cost of 1 (Caerula Arbor)/1 Anti-Interference Index (Joklumarkar).

Caerula Arbor also features "locked" branches that can only be accessed by spending Key and branches that are only accessible at low Light levels, otherwise the player can see the branch but unable to access it.

Command Level

Integrated Strategies feature a leveling mechanic separate from the regular leveling system and unique to each run called Command Level.

Players start at Command Level 1 and gains additional Command EXP for clearing operations. The player's Command Level will rise at certain Command EXP thresholds.

Operations

“	The combat nodes in [Integrated Strategies] change at random. Understanding the rules of their changes will make your combats easier.	”
	—Loading screen tip in Integrated Strategies

• Initially the player can only include 6 Operators in their squad, which is increased by one at Command Levels 6, 9, and 10, for a total of 9 Operators. The maximum possible amount of Operators that can be included in the squad is 13.
• One particular (Emergency) Operation can appear more than once in the same floor, but will never be twice in a row. Furthermore, the enemy lineup in I.S. operations may be different in every instance.
• Since Crimson Solitaire:
  • One particular (Emergency) Operation will never appear more than once in a single branch.
  • It is possible to identify and view the information of Dreadful Foes upon entering the floor where it appears.
• Until Crimson Solitaire, there are no penalties for losing Life Points when an enemy managed to enter an Protection Objective (i.e. leaking). From Caerula Arbor, leaking enemies will punish the player by making things more difficult, so exercise caution!
  • Objective Shields will prevent LP loss from leaks.
  • Watch out for the I.S.-exclusive bosses in Dreadful Foes, as they will deduct more LP than usual when leaked; the final bosses will even deduct a grand 30 LP!
• Sometimes the player can encounter the Duck Lord, Gopnik, or (Caerula Arbor onward) Crying Thief in (Emergency) Operations who acts as a "bonus enemy" that will not reduce Life Points when leaked but awards a free Collectible when defeated.

Endings

Integrated Strategies is notable for having four different endings (from Crimson Solitaire onwards; Ceobe's Fungimist only have three endings).

From Caerula Arbor, each ending have three "endbooks" which provides additional information related to the respective ending and are unlocked by carrying out specific actions related to the ending.

• The first ending is the default, reached by simply clearing the 5F Dreadful Foe.
• The second ending is reached by changing the 5F Dreadful Foe by doing certain steps during a run and skipping those that would cause the player to enter 6F, and then simply clearing it.
• The third and fourth endings are reached by doing certain steps during a run which will cause the player to enter 6F upon clearing 5F, and then clearing the 6F Dreadful Foe. The third ending is available from the theme's introduction while the fourth is added on the theme's Expansion II.

Other features

• Monthly Contract
• Deep Exploration

Starting up

Difficulty levels

In Fungimist and Crimson Solitaire, the player must choose one of three difficulty levels before starting a run: Easy, Normal, and Hard (named differently in each theme).

Easy	The player starts with a Collectible that buffs their units, but will only receive half the rewards and their progression will not be counted to unlock new Collectibles and Squads.
Normal	The baseline difficulty.
Hard	The player starts with a random "cursed" Collectible that buffs enemies and/or applies various handicaps in return for starting with a random positive Collectible as well and receiving 20% more rewards. The Hard difficulty is only available after completing a Normal run for the first time.

From Caerula Arbor, there are multiple ascending levels of difficulty, colloquially called ascension by the community, with progressively increasing handicaps and rewards; higher levels are available by completing a run in the preceding level.

• Caerula Arbor has Easy, Normal, and +1 to +15 (for a total of 17 levels).
• Joklumarkar removes Easy in favor of Normal and +1 to +15 (for a total of 16 levels). Normal and +1 have positive handicaps but reduced rewards, and +2 is the standard.
• Furnaceside Fables follow the similar difficulty levels as in Joklumarkar, but Normal neither has reduced rewards nor provide positive handicaps, making it the new standard.

Squads

After choosing a difficulty level, the player should choose a Squad to help them throughout the run. Not all Squads are available initially; most are available after certain conditions are fulfilled.

The available Squads differ with the I.S. theme.

Operation Rewards

“

You overcame at least two floors in your last exploration. You'll be able to receive more assistance this time.

”

If the player manages to reach 3F on the previous run regardless of the outcome, an Operation Reward from three randomly given options can be chosen at the player's discretion upon starting the next run.

Starting Operators

After choosing the difficulty level, Operation Reward (if available), and Squad, the player should choose the following Rec. Voucher options to recruit their initial three Operators before properly starting the run.

First Move Advantage	Sniper Rec. Voucher	Specialist Rec. Voucher	Vanguard Rec. Voucher
Slow and Steady Wins the Race	Caster Rec. Voucher	Defender Rec. Voucher	Sniper Rec. Voucher
Overcoming Your Weaknesses	Guard Rec. Voucher	Medic Rec. Voucher	Supporter Rec. Voucher
As Your Heart Desires	Two Rec. Vouchers and one Elite Rec. Voucher, all of which are of random Operator classes. The classes are usually different with each other, but rarely more than one Rec. Voucher will be of the same class.

As Your Heart Desires is the only Rec. Voucher option in Ceobe's Fungimist. Since Crimson Solitaire, it is available by completing a run with any of the other three Rec. Voucher options.